The shyr lord watched with a mixture of curiosity and morbid glee as the strange creature leaped from slave to slave, draining them as a water deprived slave drains water skins as she was soon the only one standing amidst the dead. The creature was now reborn, standing even taller than himself. Had he not seen it with his own eyes, he'd have even doubted that this female had once truly been a decaying corpse. Now it stepped forward and leaned in to examine him. While the one with him stepped back nervously, Canak stood still as a statue, or perhaps more apt a corpse, as she examined him and began speaking his name with some difficulty. To his keen ears he could sense that her vocal chords were still forming. Even on top of that, the syllables seemed a bit unfamiliar and clumsy in her mouth. Despite all that, she'd done something quite peculiar; she called him by name. Soon enough she began speaking of things long since consumed by the shifting sands of time itself. His head tilted the slightest fraction of an inch. The movement was....unnatural. It was too smooth, too mechanical, like a wheel turning.
"Fascinating. Truly fascinating" he mused, mostly to himself. She'd uttered names that stirred up ancient memories. Pain, the scent of excrement and urine, the taste of blood and dust, and the madness, gods the madness. He could remember vaguely through the haze of insanity wandering through the cruel deserts. He could remember being so hungry for blood that he'd began ripping the skin off of his own face. Gods how long had he been that way? A wild animal set loose in a place that wasn't meant for him. An animal that soon enough adapted to survive. Keen senses that burned through the fog and gave him clarity. A caterpillar that had emerged into a deadly butterfly. A slight condescending smile began to curl at the edges of his mouth as he finally took a moment to reply to this woman he realized he knew.
"Longer than you Ne'hekara" he purred. He glanced to sarcophagus that once entombed her and felt that smile grow even more till the tips of his cruel fangs were peeking out from his lips. "A queen entombed in her own palace but powerless to do anything about it. A bitter irony indeed" he mused. His thoughts moved at inhuman speeds as he soon felt a thought come to the front of his undead mind. He glanced back to his underling and with the wave of a finger, he summoned them forth. "This woman is our guest. Escort her to the upper chambers, call for fresh water, fresh clothes, and.....food if she so desires it" he said with a cruel and knowing smile. He turned to leave but stopped, glancing back to who had once been the Dead Empress.
"We have much to discuss, you and I" he uttered with a wicked smile.
After some time had passed and Ne'hekara had been properly fed, washed, and clothed; Lord Canak entered the room she'd been given and took a moment to look around. The room had fine enough accommodations and was decorated with several of her now inactive Immortals, skeletal machines that appeared to be made from a strange black metal. The skeletal figures were all distinct in one way or another to each other and all were nearly as old as the spire itself. All still radiated the faintest amount of magic. Thibor took a seat at a table and looked to the former Dead Empress and smiled wickedly. "I trust my servants have given you all that you needed, minus perhaps the answers you are likely seeking" he mentioned, motioning to a seat across from him so that they could speak in a civil manner.
"As you likely have noticed, much time has passed since the last time we saw one another. The sands of these lands have shifted and forgotten of your reign as it's dark queen, forgotten the horrors that my kind once wrought across the lands of the Old World, and that is precisely what we want" he said with a smooth, no nonsense voice. He wasn't speaking out of turn, wasn't stating an opinion, he was declaring an unarguable fact that time had passed and that the memories of mortals were short indeed.
Tharos moved through the back alleys and side streets of the Shining City as best as he could without being noticed. True, if he was thinking clearly he'd might have gathered his will and opened a rift into his home using the Void Magic that he and his sister were born with. Alas, his head was muddled with alcohol and bruises. He hissed as he stepped on a sharp stone and took a moment to sit down, rubbing the injured appendage. How he'd managed to lose ANOTHER boot he'd never know. Somewhere around the city was a left boot with no foot to fill it and no match nearby. He chuckled at the thought as he eventually began his hobbling back towards home. He wasn't looking forward to the look she'd likely give him but it was one he was used to by now. Just had to bear his teeth and endure it he supposed. It didn't take long before Tharos was standing in the shadow of their home. He was prepared to try and come into the house quietly but alas, his sister it seemed had been prepared for company of the worst sort as he stood in the threshold and blinked at the sight of her concentrated spell and the dagger she was preparing to draw.
"Expecting a burglar?" he asked with a raised eyebrow. He chuckled when she mentioned scaring her.
"If it is any consolation, you scared me Thessi. I didn't know what to expect but my sister prepared to fight to the death wasn't it" he said as he closed and locked the door behind him. He stood a bit sheepishly as she examined his injuries. His nose had been straightened a bit but it wasn't his most clean work. He rolled his eyes when she mentioned their father. The man was too worried about their reputation and image. More apt he was more worried about HIS reputation and image. He was going to bite his tongue on that matter though. He'd made his feelings known about this for years now. He hissed as she properly fixed his nose now and sighed a bit in relief. He gave up the blooded shirt for her as she left him to clean himself up and raised an eyebrow as she insisted he meet her in the 'study' when he was finished. He took some time to wash the blood and dirt off his person and before long he'd had his hair tied back and a proper pair of clean clothes on.
"Alright, no longer look like I've been dragged by a cart; what is this you said about something strange. I'm ASSUMING it has something to do with how you greeted me earlier" he said with a raised eyebrow as he took a seat and rubbed his bruised face
It had been at least 2 weeks since the Zitan by the name "Twitch" had left the Shining City. Twitch preferred being in the deserts rather than the cities that were within the stone barriers that shielded them. True, he found it all fascinating as an outsider but being an outsider also meant he was different and often despised. He made his peace with it and generally kept to himself. After all he was allotted the chance to explore the deserts and the remains of the Masari thanks to his employers and friends; Thessi and Tharos. Not many took well to Skavvers like himself. After all they were quite unpleasant and alien looking compared to the foreigners, though he'd likely say the same thing if the roles were reversed. He supposed he could understand the general animosity he supposed. It was the eyes he wagered, too many of them.
Thessi and Tharos however were different. The Twins had recognized he had a talent and didn't mean any harm. After a time, they employed him. After a bit more, they befriended him and even allowed him to keep some of the things he found out in the Dune Seas. In his time he'd managed to not only find a Masari
Sentinel that was in relatively good condition but all the parts to get it operational again. True, it wasn't in pristine condition but Masari artifacts were second to none. You couldn't do better if you'd tried. Needless to say, that machine was quite useful out in the deserts when Twitch was alone. It wasn't easily killed either and could be dismissed into a small floating machine that could materialize and de-materialize the Sentinel. Quite impressive! Twitch wasn't quite sure how it was made, how it worked, or why but that was half the fun after all.
Now he was stuck in the Dune Sea and unable to move his skimmer. He examined the skimmer as night came about and shook his head in exasperation. He wasn't going to be able to salvage the skimmer or the items on board. Not all of them anyway. He tapped his chitinous finger against his jaw as he looked around and came to the conclusion that rather than abandon everything, he could build a sled that he could physically pull and save some of the more valuable artifacts. The Zitan started by summoning the Sentinel and instructing it to stand watch for intruders in a given perimeter (thank the Makers that it picked up on his sign language) as he set to work salvaging wood and rope to build a large enough sled that he could comfortably pull and still save as much as possible. It was crude but it would serve him well enough.
A shrill screech caught Twitch's attention as the large humanoid machine sprang to life and drew it's shield and spear. Twitch looked around to see there was nothing of note until he caught the machine's gaze at the cliffs above. Twitch didn't suspect it was an animal. It didn't smell like an animal anyway. He scanned the edge and could only assume perhaps it was an outsider.
"You.....outsider? Hide......on.....cliff?" he called out. He didn't speak the common tongue well. It was clumsy and required a bit of concentration to communicate in such a way. A by product of being an insect like creature that developed in a different manner than the more mammalian creatures that roamed these deserts...
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